Air conditioner unit for vehicle

ABSTRACT

A casing unit of an air conditioner for a vehicle includes a casing, a partition plate, a bearing portion and a door unit. The casing has a first casing member and a second casing member. The partition plate is installed in the casing. The bearing portion is formed at a periphery of said partition plate and a C-shaped cross section having an opening. The door unit has a shaft and a plurality of doors integral to the shaft. The shaft is rotatably installed to the bearing portion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to an air conditioner unit for avehicle, and more particularly to a casing structure of an airconditioner for a vehicle.

[0002] Some of vehicular air conditioner units are arranged to supplyindependently conditioned airs to right and left areas near front seats,respectively. Such an air conditioner unit is generally requested to becompact. In order to satisfy such request, it is preferable to provide aplurality of blending portions for blending hot air and cool air in acasing unit. This arrangement enables the air conditioner to deliverconditioned air to the plural areas in a vehicle compartment. In orderto provide a plurality of portions for blending hot air and cool air ina casing unit of the air conditioner unit, it is necessary to provide atleast one partition plate for defining independent passages in thecasing so as to supply independently blended air to the passages passes,respectively. A plurality of doors such as mode doors for varyingairflow passing through the respective passages are installed to therespective passages. Generally, a mode door is a door for opening andclosing a blowing-out port opened at the casing directed toward apassenger compartment and includes a VENT outlet and a foot outlet.Further, the thus arranged conventional unit for independentlyconditioning and delivering air by each independent passage is called anindependent air conditioner unit. A unit for supplying same conditionedair to right and left areas is called a standard air conditioner unit.With the independent air conditioner unit, it becomes possible todeliver differently conditioned airs to right and left areas of frontseats in a vehicle passenger compartment, respectively. Thisconventional independent air conditioner unit is generally arranged toinstall a partition plate in a casing of the unit for the purpose ofdefining the plural independent passages. Therefore, it is necessary toprovide linked doors connected with each other while locating thepartition plate therebetween. As shown in FIG. 10, such linked doors 101and 102 are installed to a partition plate 103 in a manner ofsandwiching the partition plate 103 with shafts 111 and 112 of thelinked doors 101 and 102 and engaging the shafts 111 and 112.

[0003] However, this installation structure requires plural parts forthe linked doors, and therefore the production cost thereof isincreased. On the other hand, even if the linked doors are integrallyformed into one piece, it is necessary to provide an installation slotfor the integrally formed doors at the partition plate. However, thisslot degrades a partition performance of the partition plate for therespective passages.

[0004] Further, the partition plate is generally positioned in thecasing by being sandwiched by a pair of casing members as shown in FIG.11. More specifically, a Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No.H8-104126 discloses a partition plate positioning structure of an airconditioner unit. Case connecting portions 241 and 242 of the casingmembers are formed into a flanged shape as shown in FIG. 11. Further,both casing members have stepped portions 241 a and 242 a for defining apartition plate positioning groove to which a peripheral portion of thepartition plate is inserted.

[0005] However, it is necessary to further increase thickness of theconnecting portions 241 and 242 according to the provision of suchstepped portions 241 a and 242 a. This may degrade a quality of themolding of the casing member while increasing the quantity of plasticresin for molding the casing. Furthermore, this conventional structureis not so suitable in view of assembling the casing and the partitionplate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide acasing unit which is for a vehicular independent air conditioner unitand enables decreasing a production cost thereof and improving anassembly easiness.

[0007] An aspect of the present invention resides in a casing unit whichis of an air conditioner for a vehicle and comprises a casing, apartition plate, a bearing portion, and a door unit. The casingcomprises a first casing member and a second casing member. Thepartition plate is installed in the casing. The bearing portion isformed at a periphery of said partition plate and a C-shaped crosssection having an opening. The door unit comprises a shaft and aplurality of doors integral to the shaft. The shaft is rotatablyinstalled to the bearing portion.

[0008] Another aspect of the present invention resides in a casing unitwhich is of an air conditioner for a vehicle and comprises a casing, apartition plate and partition plate supporting portions. The casingcomprises a first casing member and a second casing member. Thepartition plate in installed in the casing. The partition platesupporting portions are integrally formed with the first and secondcasing members, respectively and sandwich a peripheral portion of saidpartition plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009]FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an air conditioneraccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0010]FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing main parts of acasing unit of FIG. 1.

[0011]FIG. 3 is an enlarged and exploded perspective view of a partitionplate and a VENT door of FIG. 2.

[0012]FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing an assembledcondition of the partition plate and the VENT door of FIG. 3.

[0013]FIGS. 5A to 5D are side views showing an installation procedure ofthe VENT door to the partition plate.

[0014]FIG. 6 is an enlarged and exploded perspective view of a part of apair of casing members and the partition plate.

[0015]FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a receiving portion ofthe partition plate at which supporting portions of the casing membersare received.

[0016]FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing an oblique portion of thepartition plate.

[0017]FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a positioning pin of thecasing member and a positioning hole of the partition plate.

[0018]FIG. 10 is an enlarged and exploded perspective view of aconventional door installation structure.

[0019]FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventionalconnecting portion among a pair of casing members and a partition plate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 9, there is shown an embodiment of an airconditioner unit for a vehicle in accordance with the present invention.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 1, the air conditioner unit is of a verticallyarranged type and is usually installed in an instrument panel of thevehicle. The air conditioner unit comprises a cooler unit 1 and a heaterunit 2 which are integrally assembled in a casing 80. The casing 80 isconfigured into a short dimension form in the longitudinal (horizontal)direction of the vehicle.

[0022] An evaporator 3 is disposed in an upstream (front side) airpassage in the casing 80, and a heater core 4 is disposed in adownstream (rear side) air passage in the casing 80. As is well known,the evaporator 3 employed in the air conditioner unit is a device forcooling induction air by heat transfer with refrigerant in a manner offlowing a low-temperature low-pressure refrigerant decompressed by anexpansion valve in the evaporator 3. Further, the heater core 4 employedin the air conditioner unit is a device for heating induction air byheat transfer with engine coolant in a manner of flowing the enginecoolant in the heater core 4.

[0023] The air for air conditioning is inducted from an inlet port Opopened toward a vehicle lateral direction corresponding to theperpendicular direction to a paper surface of FIG. 1 into the casing 80.Then, the induction air is directed toward the right and upper side(corresponding to the rearward of the vehicle in FIG. 1 to be cooled bythe evaporator 3.

[0024] An air intake unit (not shown) is installed to the lateral sideof the casing 80 and inducts air to the inlet port Op. This arrangementcontributes to shorten the longitudinal dimension (the dimension in thevehicle lateral direction) of air conditioner unit.

[0025] A mix door 15 is installed at a portion between the evaporator 3and the heater core 4 so as to be slidable in the direction of thearrows X1 of FIG. 1. Therefore, the induction air from the upstreampassage is selectively and dividedly flowed to a hot air passage 6passing through the heater core 4 and to a cool air passage Pc bypassingthe heater core 4 according to the positioning of the mix door 15. Thisarrangement of the mix door 15 enables the evaporator 3 and the heatercore 4 to locate adjacently, and therefore the space of the airconditioner unit is further decreased.

[0026] The mix door 15 is formed into an arc shape so as to extend alongthe direction of the arrow X1 while curving so as to project toward adownstream side with a predetermined curvature as shown in FIG. 1. Thethus shaped mix door 15 is capable of smoothly varying the flowdirection of the air cooled by the evaporator 3 so as to direct alongthe arc-shaped surface of the mix door 15 to the cool air passage Pc orto direct along the arc-shaped surface of the mix door 15 to the hot airpassage 6.

[0027] A door sliding mechanism for sliding the mix door 15 isconstituted by teeth portions formed in the vicinity of both endportions of the mix door 15, a pair of gears meshed with the teethportions, and a motor for rotating the gears. It will be understood thatthe door sliding mechanism is not limited to this structure and mayemploy a manual operation mechanism arranged to slide the mix door 15 bymanually pulling and pushing a wire cable connected to the mix door 16.

[0028] The casing 80 comprises an upper chamber 20 adjacent to the coolair passage Pc as shown in FIG. 1. The upper chamber 20 has a VENToutlet port (ventilation outlet) Fv and a DEF outlet port (defrosteroutlet) Fd. A wall portion 8 is provided at a downstream side of theheater core 4 and therefore the hot air passing through the hot airpassage 6 is flowed upward along the wall portion 8 to the upper chamber20. Accordingly, the hot air is mixed with the cool air reached to thecool air passage Pc.

[0029] Further, an outer wall 80 c and the wall portion 8 define a footair passage 25 which extends downward from the upper chamber 20 througha foot outlet port Ff. A VENT door (ventilation door) 90 is installed atan inlet portion of the foot air passage 25 so as to be capable ofcontrolling the openings of the vent outlet port Fv and the foot outletport Ff. In order to adapt to a condition that both the VENT outlet portFv and the foot outlet port Ff are closed, a DEF door (defroster door)95 provided at the defroster outlet port Ff is arranged to open andclose a first opening portion 26 communicated with the DEF outlet portFd, the VENT outlet port Fv and the foot outlet port Ff. Of course, thepresent invention is not limited to this, and instead of thisarrangement, it may be arranged such that a foot door for controllingthe opening of the foot outlet port Ff is independently provided at adownstream side of the foot air passage and that the VENT door 90 isarranged to control the opening of the vent outlet port Fv.

[0030] A multiple mode door 10 is swingably provided in the upperchamber 20 located at downstream side of the cool air passage Pc and thehot air passage 6. The multiple mode door 10 acts as a guide member forguiding air to an upper portion in the upper chamber 20. The multiplemode door 10 is capable of opening and closing a second opening portion27 provided between the wall portion 8 and the first opening portion 26.

[0031] The air inducted from the induction port Op is cooled by theevaporator 3 and divided into upper airflow and lower airflow by the mixdoor 15. The lower airflow is heated by the heater core 3 and suppliedto the hot air passage 6. The upper airflow cooled by the evaporator 3bypasses the heater core 4 and is supplied to the cool air passage Pc.The cool air is mixed with the hot air passing through the heater core 4at the upper chamber 20. The mixed air set at a predeterminedtemperature is supplied to the passenger compartment through the variousoutlet ports F including the VENT outlet port Fv, the DEF outlet portFd, and the foot outlet port Ff according to the selected air supplymode. In some cases, the hot air or cool air is directly supplied to thepassenger compartment without being mixed with each other.

[0032] The temperature of the air blown out from the outlet ports F isbasically controlled by controlling the opening of the mix door 15. Theair supply mode includes a VENT mode for blowing out the cool air to anupper side of a vehicle passenger, a bi-level mode for blowing out thecool air to the upper side of the vehicle passenger and blowing out thehot air to a lower side of the vehicle passenger so as to keep the headcool and the feet warm, a DEF mode for clearing the clouding of frontand side windows, a foot mode for blowing out the conditioned air to thelower side of the vehicle passenger, and a DEF-foot mode for clearingthe windows and blowing out the hot air to the lower side of the vehiclepassenger.

[0033] When a multiple mode such as the bi-level mode or DEF-foot modeis selected, by rotating the multiple mode door 10 from the secondopening portion 27 toward the closed position, the air fed from the coolair passage Pc and the hot air passage 6 is fed to the further upperportion in the upper chamber 20. Accordingly, the hot air and the coolair are mixed and raised up by means of the multiple mode door 10.Further, the mixed air is gathered at the upper portion of the upperchamber 20 and is distributed. Therefore, a U-turn passage, whichenables the mixing of the hot air and the cool air to be sufficientlypromoted, is provided, and therefore the air mixing performance isimproved. With this arrangement, it becomes possible to properly adjustthe temperature of the blown-out air by the air mixing operation.Therefore, the amenity of the passenger compartment is further improved.

[0034] On the other hand, when a full cool temperature setting isselected, that is, when all of cool air cooled by the evaporator 4 isblown through the cool air passage Pc to the passenger compartment, themultiple mode door 10 is rotated on a shaft and set at a position shownby continuous line in FIG. 1. At this setting of the multiple mode door10 at the position, the cool air smoothly flows from the cool airpassage Pc to the vent outlet port Fv. Accordingly, when the full cooloperation is executed, the cool air passed the cool air passage Pcsmoothly flows along the multiple mode door 10, and is blown from theVENT outlet port Fv to the passenger compartment. That is, the airflowresistance during this full cool operation is small and lot of cool airis supplied to the passenger compartment. Consequently, the coolingperformance of the air conditioner unit is improved.

[0035]FIG. 2 shows an exploded perspective view showing essential partsof the conditioner unit according to the present invention. As shown inFIG. 2, a space in the casing 80 of the air conditioner unit is dividedinto independent two passages by a partition plate 31 so that thetemperature control can be executed at each independent passage. Thecasing 80 is constructed by the partition plate 31 and a pair of casingmembers 80 a and 80 b divided into left and right as shown in FIG. 2.The casing members 80 a and 80 b are connected with each other whilelocating the partition plate 31 therebetween. Therefore, the partitionplate 31 is provided along the airflow flowing in the casing 80. Thepartition plate 31 extends toward the downstream passage andequivalently divides the downstream passage into independent twopassages. The divided two passages supply conditioned air to the rightand left areas of the front portion in the passenger compartment.

[0036] The mix door 15 is constituted by two door portions which aredisposed in the vicinity of the inlets of the independent two passages,respectively. Each door portion of the mix door 15 is arranged toindependently operate by each door sliding mechanism (not shown).Accordingly, the temperature of the air in each passage can beindependently controlled so as to be able to control the opening of eachinlet independently. That is, it becomes possible to generate twoindependently conditioned airflows in one air conditioner unit. The thusarranged air conditioner unit is capable of supplying two differentlycontrolled airflows (hot air and cool air are independently mixedrespectively) to the right and left areas of the front seats,respectively.

[0037]FIGS. 3 and 4 show the VENT door 90 and a VENT-door supportingportion of the partition wall 31. The partition plate 31 has a bearingportion 32 for the VENT door 90 and a bearing portion 33 for the DEFdoor 95. Each of the bearing portions 32 and 33 is formed into aC-shaped cross section and has an opening portion through which a shaft55 of each of the VENT door 90 and the DEF door 95 is rotatablyinstalled to the partition wall 31.

[0038] Hereinafter, the construction of the bearing portion 32 and theVENT door 90 will be discussed with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. Sincethe construction of the bearing portion 33 and the DEF door 95 arebasically the same as that of the bearing portion 32 and the VENT door90, the explanation thereof is omitted herein.

[0039] The bearing portion 32 has a semi-cylinder portion extending inthe direction perpendicular to a surface of the partition plate 31. Thebearing portion 32 is arranged so that the part of the bearing portion32 is greater than the opening while enabling the shaft 55 of the VENTdoor 90 to be installed to the partition plate 31 through the opening.In other words, an arc surface 34 formed by the bearing portion 32 hasan angle subtended at a center of the arc which angle is greater than180°.

[0040] The VENT door 90 comprises the shaft 55 supported to the bearingportion 32 and a pair of doors 51 and 52 fixed to the shaft 55. Thedoors 51 and 52 are formed to have a cutout portion corresponding to thepartition plate 31 therebetween. The VENT door 90 is a one-piecestructure formed by means of the integral molding using synthetic resin.The doors 51 and 52 are installed to the partition plate 31 such thatthe partition plate 31 is located between the doors 51 and 52 as shownin FIG. 4. Since step portions 53 and 54 are provided as shown in FIGS.3 and 4, when the VENT door 90 is rotated at the position where thedoors 51 and 52 are directed to the upstream side of the partition plate31, the step portions 53 and 54 are located around the bearing portion32. This arrangement of the step portions 53 and 54 to the bearingportion 32 functions as a shaft detaching preventing means so as toprevent the shaft 55 of the VENT door 90 from being detached from theopening of the bearing portion 32.

[0041] The shaft 55 has a pair of ribs 56 which are located at both endportions of the bearing portion 32. That is, the ribs 56 act aspositioning means for restricting the shaft 55 installed to the bearingportion 32 from moving in the axial direction of the shaft 55. Thispositioning means is not limited to this and may be arranged to provideone rib at the center of the shaft 55 and to form a slit on the arcsurface 34 of the bearing portion 32 so that the center rib engages withthe slit.

[0042] Next, the manner of assembling the partition plate 31 and doors90 and 95 to the casing 80 will be discussed.

[0043]FIGS. 5A to 5D show side views for explaining a method ofinstalling the VENT door 90 to the partition plate 31. In these figures,the positioning ribs 56 are facilitated.

[0044] As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5A, the shaft 55 of the VENT door 90 isapproached to the opening portion of the bearing portion 32 of thepartition plate 31 such that an intermediation portion of thepositioning ribs 56 corresponds to the bearing portion 32. Since the arcsurface 34 of the bearing portion 32 is formed to have an anglesubtended at a center of the arc which angle is greater than 180°, theshaft 55 deforms the opening portion of the bearing portion 32 as shownin FIG. 5B, and is then inserted into and supported to the bearingportion 32 as shown in FIG. 5C. Since the doors 51 and 52 have the stepportions 53 and 54 respectively, the doors 51 and 52 do not interferencewith the bearing portion 32.

[0045] Due to the arc surface 34 formed to surround the shaft 55 at theangular range greater than 180°, by inserting the shaft 55 in thebearing portion 32, the shaft 55 is supported to the bearing portion 32so as not to be detached therefrom without a predetermined force in theaxial perpendicular direction. Further, by corresponding theintermediate portion between the ribs 56 with the bearing portion 32 inpositioning, the position of the VENT door 90 in the axial direction iseasily and correctly determined. Furthermore, it is possible to restrictthe movement of the VENT door 90 in the shaft axial direction.Therefore, the assembly operation is further improved. Since the bearingportion 32 has a predetermined length and is formed into a cylindricalshape having a cutout portion, the shaft 55 is stably supported to thebearing portion 32.

[0046] Next, as shown in FIGS. 5D and 4, the shaft 55 is rotated suchthat the doors 51 and 52 direct to an inner side of the partition plate31. With this arrangement, the step portions 53 and 54 are faced withthe outer periphery of the bearing portion 32 so as to restrict themovement of the VENT door 90 in the direction perpendicular to the shaftaxial direction. Accordingly, it is possible to firmly maintain theinstallation condition of the VENT door 90 to the partition plate 31,and therefore it becomes possible to firmly prevent the VENT door 90from being detached from the partition plate 31.

[0047] Similarly, the DEF door 95 is installed to the partition plate 31in the manner as same as that of the VENT door 90. The multiple modedoor 10, which is not located at the periphery of the partition plate31, is installed to the casing 80 in a manner shown in FIG. 10.

[0048] After the VENT door 90 and the DEF door 95 are assembled with thepartition plate 31, this assembly is assembled to the casing 80 of theair conditioner unit.

[0049] At a periphery of the partition plate 31, there are provided thebearing portion 32 formed into a C-shape, the shaft 55 supported by thebearing portion 32, and the VENT door 90 and the DEF door 95 includingthe plurality of doors 51 and 53 fixed to the shaft 55 so as to bepositioned in the passages defined by the partition wall 31 and thecasing 80. Therefore, it becomes possible to decrease the number of theparts employed in the air conditioner unit as compared with that in theconventional air conditioner unit, and therefore it becomes possible todecrease the production cost thereof.

[0050] Further, the partition plate 31, the VENT door 90 and the DEFdoor 95 are previously assembled, and the assembled sub unit includingthe partition plate 31 and the doors 90 and 95 is assembled in thecasing 80. Accordingly, the shaft 55 can act as a guide pin in theassembly operation of the casing 80. Therefore, the installation of thepartition plate 31 into the casing 80 is simplified and improved ininstallation efficiency.

[0051] Furthermore, the installation of the VENT door 90 and the DEFdoor 95 does not require to provided a slot slightly greater than acress section shape the doors 90 and 95 in the partition plate 31.Therefore, it is possible to prevent conditioned air from flow acrossthe partition plate 31. This arrangement enables the air in the pluralpassages to independently air-condition by each passage.

[0052]FIG. 6 shows the casing members 80 a and 80 b and the partitionplate 31, and FIG. 7 shows case connection portions 61 and 62 forconnecting the casing members 80 a and 80 b. The case connectingportions 61 and 62 include a pin receiving portions formed on thepartition plate 31. FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view showing obliqueguide portions 67 and 68 which are formed at a lower end portion of thepartition plate 31. FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view showing apositioning pin 70 formed on the casing member 80 a and a positioninghole 69 formed on the partition plate 31.

[0053] As shown in FIG. 6, the casing members 80 a and 80 b areconnected by butt connection. The case connecting portions 61 and 62formed at the butted end portions of the casing members 80 a and 80 bare bulged toward the outer side and formed into a flange shape. Thecase connecting portion 61 has a recess groove 63 which is connected toa projecting bead 64 of the case connecting portion 62. Accordingly,when the casing members 80 a and 80 b are connected with each other, theprojecting bead 64 of the case connecting portion 62 is engaged with therecess groove 63. With this manner, the casing 80 is basicallyassembled.

[0054] Supporting portions 65 and 66 for supporting the partition plate31 are provided at the end portions of the casing members 80 a and 80 b.These supporting portions 65 and 66 are corresponding to ejector pinreceiving portions for receiving ejector pins during molding. It is ofcourse certain that the supporting portion 65 and 66 are not limited tothe ejector pin receiving portions and may be differently provided asribs or beads of the casing members 80 a and 80 b.

[0055] The supporting portions 65 and 66 are oppositely provided at thecasing members 80 a and 80 b, respectively. Preferably, a plurality ofpairs of supporting portions are provided to the casing members 80 a and80 b in view of firmly supporting the partition plate 31. In thisembodiment, the supporting portions 65 and 66 are formed at the lowerwall portion of the casing members 80 a and 80 b, they may be formed atthe upper wall or side wall of the casing members 80 a and 80 b.

[0056] The casing 80 is assembled by sandwiching the partition plate 31by the pair of the supporting portions 65 and 66, and by engaging theprojecting bead 64 of the connecting portion 62 of the casing member 80b to the recess groove 63 of the case connecting portion 61 of thecasing member 80 a.

[0057] Accordingly, it is possible to assemble the casing 80 of thestandard type air conditioning unit even if the partition plate 31 isomitted. Further, by sandwiching the partition plate 31 with thesupporting portions 65 and 66, the casing 80 for the independent typeair conditioning unit can be assembled. Therefore, it becomes possibleto commonly use the casing of the prevent invention as the standard typeair conditioning unit and the independent type air conditioning unit.This enables decreasing the projection cost of the air conditioner unit.

[0058] Further, since the supporting portions 65 and 66 for supportingthe partition plate 31 are provided by utilizing the ejector pinreceiving portions for receiving ejector pins employed to release themolded product from a molding die, it becomes possible to suppress theproduction cost of the air conditioner unit and to easily provide thesupporting portions 65 and 66.

[0059] Furthermore, during the casing assembly operation, it isunnecessary to sandwich all periphery of the partition plate 31 by meansof the casing members 80 a and 80 b, it becomes possible to easilyassembly the casing members 80 a and 80 b while locating the partitionplate 31 therebetween. This improves the assembly performance as to thecasing 80.

[0060] Further, since it becomes unnecessary to provide the recessgrooves 241 a and 242 a employed in the conventional casing as shown inFIG. 11, the projecting amount of each connecting portion 61, 62 of eachcasing member 80 a, 80 b is decreased by the thickness of the recessgrooves 241 a and 242 a. Consequently, it becomes possible to preventexcessively increasing the thickness of the case connecting portions 61and 62, and therefore the strain caused by the plastic molding issolved. Although FIG. 7 shows the case connecting portions 61 and 62provided at the outer peripheral portions of the casing members 80 a and80 b, the present invention is not limited to this arrangement and maybe adapted to casing connecting portions in the casing 80. In case thatthe casing connecting portions are provided inside the casing 80, itbecomes possible to further decrease the thickness at the caseconnecting portions 61 and 62 as compared with the conventionalconnecting portions. That is, since the conventional casing connectingportions are arranged to provide recess grooves 241 a and 242 a as shownin FIG. 11, the arrangement according to the prevent invention canfacilitate to excessively project the casing connecting portions. Thisdecreases the thickness of the case connecting portions.

[0061] Further, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, when the case connectingportions 61 and 62 of the casing members 80 a and 80 b are connected toboth side walls of the partition plate 31 by the butting, the pair ofthe oblique guide portions 67 and 68 are provided so as to guide thecase connecting portions 61 and 62 to the predetermined positions whilebeing in contact with the inner sides of the casing members 80 a and 80b. Therefore, it becomes possible to improve the performance of engagingthe recess groove 63 and the projection bead 64 for the butt connectionbetween the casing members 80 a and 80 b. Although the oblique guideportions 67 and 68 are formed at the lower end portions of the partitionplate 31 except for the portion which are received by the supportingportions 65 and 66, it will be understood that the present invention isnot limited to this and may be arranged such that the oblique guideportions 67 and 68 may be formed partially or thoroughly.

[0062] Further, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, a positioning hole 69 isformed at a side surface of the partition plate 31, and a positioningpin 70 is formed at a lower end portion of the casing member 80 a so asto be inserted to the positioning hole 69. The positioning pin 70 isformed on supporting portion 65 of the ejector pin receiving portion.This arrangement enables the partition plate 31 to be correctlypositioned and installed to the casing members 80 a and 80 b. In view ofthe positioning of the partition plate 31, it is preferable that thenumber of the pairs of the positioning hole 69 and the positioning pin70 is greater than at least two.

[0063] Although the embodiment according to the present invention hasbeen shown and described as to the independent air conditioner unithaving the two independent passages defined by dividing the space of thecasing 80 by means of the partition plate 31, the invention is notlimited to this and may be adapted to an independent air conditionerunit having three or more independent passages divided by two or morepartition plates. Further, although the embodiment according to thepresent invention has been shown and described as to the independent airconditioner unit having right and left independent passages, theinvention is not limited to this and may be adapted to an independentair conditioner unit having upper and lower independent passages.

[0064] The entire contents of Japanese Patent Applications No.2000-68923 filed on Mar. 13, 2000 and No. 2000-86804 filed on Mar. 27,2000 in Japan are incorporated herein by reference.

[0065] Although the invention has been described above by reference to acertain embodiment of the invention, the invention is not limited to theembodiment described above. Modifications and variations of theembodiment described above will occur to those skilled in the art, inlight of the above teaching. The scope of the invention is defined withreference to the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A casing unit of an air conditioner for a vehiclecomprising: a casing comprising a first casing member and a secondcasing member; a partition plate installed in said casing; a bearingportion formed at a periphery of said partition plate, said bearingportion having a C-shaped cross section and having an opening; and adoor unit comprising a shaft and a plurality of doors integral to theshaft, the shaft being rotatably installed to said bearing portion. 2.The casing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the bearing portion hasan arc surface for supporting the shaft of said door unit, an anglesubtended at the center by an arc of the arc surface is greater than orequal to 180°.
 3. The casing unit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein saidbearing portion is cylindrical which extends in a directionperpendicular to a major surface of said partition plate.
 4. The casingunit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the doors of said door unitcomprise a movement limiting means for limiting a movement of said doorunit in a direction perpendicular to an axial direction of the shaftwhen the shaft is supported to said bearing portion and when said doorunit is rotated at a position where the doors are located to sandwichsaid partition plate therebetween.
 5. The casing unit as claimed inclaim 1 , wherein the shaft of said door unit comprises a positioningmeans for limiting the shaft from moving in an axial direction of theshaft when the shaft is supported to said bearing portion.
 6. The casingunit as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a partition platesupporting means for supporting said partition plate at a predeterminedposition in said casing.
 7. The casing unit as claimed in claim 6 ,wherein said partition plate supporting means comprises a pair ofpartition plate supporting portions which are integrally formed withsaid first and second casing members, respectively, said partition platesupporting portions sandwiching a peripheral portion of said partitionplate.
 8. The casing unit as claimed in claim 6 , wherein said partitionplate supporting means comprises a partition plate position holeprovided at a peripheral portion of said partition plate and a partitionplate positioning pin is provided to one of the first and second casingmembers, the partition plate positioning pin being inserted to thepartition plate positioning hole when said partition plate is assembledwith said first and second casing members.
 9. A door installationstructure in a casing of a vehicular air conditioner unit, said doorinstallation structure comprising: a partition plate comprising abearing portion which is formed into C-shape having an opening, thebearing portion being formed at a periphery of said partition plate, theopening of the bearing portion being opened toward an outside of saidpartition plate; and a door unit comprising a shaft and a plurality ofdoors integrally fixed to the shaft, the shaft being installed to thebearing portion and rotatably supported to the bearing portion.
 10. Acasing unit of an air conditioner for a vehicle comprising: a casingcomprising a first casing member and a second casing member; a partitionplate installed in said casing; and partition plate supporting portionsintegrally formed with said first and second casing members,respectively, said partition plate supporting portions sandwiching aperipheral portion of said partition plate.
 11. The casing unit asclaimed in claim 10 , wherein said partition plate supporting portionsare ejector pin receiving portions which is pushed by ejector pins forreleasing said casing members from a molding die.
 12. The casing unit asclaimed in claim 10 , wherein an oblique guide is formed at an peripheryof said partition plate, the oblique guide guiding both connectingportions of the casing members so that the casing members are correctlyassembled with each other.
 13. The casing unit as claimed in claim 12 ,wherein a partition plate position hole is provided at a peripheralportion of said partition plate, a partition plate positioning pin isprovided to one of the first and second casing members, the partitionplate positioning pin being inserted to the partition plate positioninghole when said partition plate is assembled between the casing members.